Systems and methods for providing enhanced player&#39;s ticket features

ABSTRACT

Ticketing systems and methods are provided specifically relating to a player&#39;s ticket and a player&#39;s ticket option. A player&#39;s ticket references at least one player and allows the player&#39;s ticket holder to attend all sporting events played in by the at least one player referenced on the player&#39;s ticket. A player&#39;s ticket option references at least one player and allows the player&#39;s ticket option holder to exercise the option to obtain a player&#39;s ticket that allows attending all sporting events played in by the at least one player referenced on the player&#39;s ticket option.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to ticketing systems and methods andparticularly to systems and methods for providing a player's ticket.

Currently, sports fans may only purchase tickets for specific games ormatches of a sport. In exchange for the purchase, the sports fan (orticket holder) receives an ordinary ticket (e.g., general admissionticket, reserved ticket, unreserved ticket, etc.) which entitles theticket holder admission to a particular event (i.e., a game or match).Typically, the ticket specifies at least the day, time, and location ofthe game. The ticket may not specify the day, time, and location of thegame if, for example, the ticket is for a playoff game in which the day,time, and location of the game may be dependent on the outcome of othergames.

In a sport, such as tennis, a sports fan may only purchase tickets for aparticular match or a group of matches occurring during a particulartime period in a tournament. These tickets may be made available forpurchase in advance of the tournament, at a time when the players inparticular matches or a group of matches are unknown. For example, inorder for a sports fan to purchase a ticket for the semi-final match forthe U.S. Open tennis tournament, the sports fan may have to purchase theticket before the tournament begins. Because the selection of playersfor this match, which occurs late in the tournament, is dependent uponwhich players win in the earlier matches of the tournament, the sportsfan will not know at the time of purchase who will be playing in thislater match. This approach to ticket sales results in sports fans buyingtickets for matches between players in which the sports fan may havelittle interest. A sports fan may be faced with giving away or not usinga ticket and forfeiting his investment, selling the ticket at a loss, orattending a match the sports fan does not desire attending.

Therefore, it would desirable to provide systems and methods thatprovide sports fans with an opportunity to purchase tickets for sportingevents played by specific players or teams that interest the sports fan.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide systemsand methods that provide sports fans with an opportunity to purchasetickets for sporting events played by specific players or teams thatinterest the sports fan. The present invention is described at least inpart in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/101,950, filedApr. 8, 2005, which is hereby incorporated by reference herein in itsentirety.

One approach for alleviating the aforementioned difficulties is for theorganizers of a tournament to sell to a sports fan tickets, for thetournament, that reference a player or players rather than a match orgame. The sports fan (or ticket holder) may be able to attend any matchbeing played by the players referenced on the ticket. This type ofticket may be known as a “player's ticket.” The total number of matchesthat the player's ticket holder attends may be dependent upon thesuccess of the player(s) referenced on the ticket.

Different types of player's tickets may be provided. One type ofplayer's ticket may be an all-rounds player's ticket in which a ticketmay reference one player and may provide entry to all matches played inby that player. A “round-‘x’-onwards” player's ticket may reference oneplayer and provide entry to all matches played in by the player forround “x” and each subsequent round, where x>1. Another type of player'sticket may be a “multiple-players'” ticket in which a ticket mayreference multiple players and may provide entry to all matches playedin by any of the players on the ticket. If a match is played between twoor more players that are on the multiple-players' ticket, the ticket mayentitle the multiple-players' ticket holder to only one seat, meaningthat a multiple-players' ticket may entitle the multiple-players' ticketholder to more than one seat. For example, the multiple player's ticketmay entitle the multiple-players' ticket holder to fewer seats than thenumber of players referenced on the multiple-players' ticket, seatsequal to the number of players referenced on the multiple-players'ticket, or more seats than the number of players referenced on themultiple-players' ticket.

In some approaches, options for purchasing tickets (e.g., player'stickets or ordinary tickets) may be available to sports fans. Once asports fan purchases an option for a ticket, the sports fan is a ticketoption holder and may receive the option of purchasing tickets for amatch on preferential terms as compared to the general public. Variouspreferential arrangements may be provided. For example, ticket optionholders may be provided with an opportunity to purchase tickets prior tothe general public. As for a multiple-players' ticket, in the case ofmultiple players referenced on this option playing in a single match,the option holder may be entitled to only one seat for this match ifthis option is exercised, meaning that a multiple-players' ticket optionmay entitle the multiple-players' ticket option holder to more than oneseat. For example, the multiple player's ticket may entitle themultiple-players' ticket holder to fewer seats than the number ofplayers referenced on the multiple-players' ticket option, seats equalto the number of players referenced on the multiple-players' ticketoption, or more seats than the number of players referenced on themultiple-players' ticket option.

The probabilities of each player winning the player's potential matchesmay be used to predict with certain levels of confidence how many seatsmay be allocated for player's ticket holders. In order to determine howmany seats may be necessary to allocate for player's ticket holders,various techniques for simulating matches may be utilized.Alternatively, various formulas for estimating how many seats may benecessary to allocate for player's ticket holders may also be utilized.The simulations or formulas may be used to determine the variousoutcomes of each match of a tournament. From this, the different numberof tickets necessary to accommodate all player's tickets for each matchat various levels of confidence may be discovered. In addition, thesimulations or formulas may be used to determine the different number oftickets necessary to accommodate all ticket option holders for eachmatch at various levels of confidence. Once the different probabilitydistributions are provided, the organizer of the tournament maydetermine how many seats to allocate for player's ticket holders andoption holders for each relevant match.

The number of player's tickets of each type that should be sold and theprice for these player's tickets may be dependent upon the profitabilityof each type of player's ticket and information obtained from themarginal cost curve, marginal revenue curve, and demand curve for eachtype of player's ticket. In general, the goal of the tournamentorganizing entity will be to maximize profits. To this end, standardoption pricing techniques may be applicable in the pricing of player'sticket options. For each type of player's ticket that is profitable toissue, this may be accomplished by issuing player's tickets (that areissued at a single price) up to the quantity at which the marginal costof each player's ticket to the tournament organizing entity equals themarginal revenue from each player's ticket. The single price at whichsuch player's tickets should desirably be issued is the point on thedemand curve corresponding to the number of player's tickets that havebeen issued. Since the aim of the tournament organizing entity is tomaximize profits, player's tickets that that are not profitable to issuemay not be issued. In some cases, the tournament organizing entity maybe able to increase profits by following a different pricing strategyfrom that outlined above and charging various prices for the sameplayer's ticket. An important component of the marginal cost of issuinga player's ticket may be the forgone profits from the ordinary ticketsthat it replaces. The demand and marginal revenue curves for a player'sticket may be influenced by factors such as the popularity of the playerthat the ticket references, the number of matches that the ticket ispotentially valid for, the expected number of matches that the player isexpected to play in, and the consistency of the player.

Depending upon how many seats are allocated for player's ticket holders,the results of previous matches, the number of player's ticket holdersthat do not show for a particular match, and other possible factors,there may be a shortfall or an excess of seats for player's tickets fora particular match. (Similarly, depending upon how many seats areallocated for ticket option holders, the results of previous matches,the number of player's ticket holders that do not show for a particularmatch, the number of options holders that do not exercise their optionto purchase a ticket, and other possible factors, there may be ashortfall or an excess of seats for ticket options for a particularmatch. The principles that follows with respect to mitigation techniquesfor player's tickets may apply equally to mitigation techniques forticket options.) Various mitigation techniques may be utilized to managethe shortfall or excess of seats. If there is an excess number of seatsfor player's tickets, the extra seats may be sold as ordinary tickets orrepackaged as part of new player's tickets. If there is a shortfall inthe number of seats for player's tickets, seats allocated for ordinarytickets that are unsold may be used for player's tickets. In addition,ordinary tickets may be bought back or player's tickets may notguarantee a ticket holder admission.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will beapparent upon consideration of the following detailed description, takenin conjunction with accompanying drawings, in which like referencecharacters refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

FIG. 1 is a tournament bracket of a sample sports tournament as used inconjunction with certain embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a depiction of the sample tournament bracket of FIG. 1 intable format in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 3 is a table of player's ticket allocations for each round in thesample tournament in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIGS. 4 and 5 are tables of a simulation of the sample tournament inaccordance with certain embodiments of the present invention;

FIGS. 6, 7, and 8 are tables of how many player's tickets are requiredin the matches for the sample tournament in accordance with certainembodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 9 is an illustration of a demand curve, marginal cost curve,marginal revenue curve, total cost curve, and total revenue curve for aplayer's ticket in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 10 is a table illustrating a dampening technique of probabilitydistributions of seat allocations in accordance with certain embodimentsof the present invention;

FIG. 11 is a flow diagram of a main process that may be used to provideplayer's tickets in accordance with certain embodiments of the presentinvention;

FIG. 12 is a block diagram of a system that may be used to implementprocesses and functions of certain embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 13 is a block diagram of a workstation, a legacy server, and aplayer's ticketing server that may be used to implement the processesand functions of certain embodiments of the present invention;

FIG. 14 is a cross-sectional view of a magnetic data storage mediumencoded with a set of machine-executable instructions for performing themethod according to the present invention; and

FIG. 15 is a cross-sectional view of an optically readable data storagemedium encoded with a set of machine-executable instructions forperforming the method according to the present invention.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that some elements in certain drawingsare illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily beendrawn to scale.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to ticketing systems and methods and particularlyto systems and methods for providing a player's ticket based on theprobabilities of players winning their matches and the number ofplayer's tickets sold for each player for each match.

The following embodiment of the invention relates to player's ticketsfor tennis. However, the invention is not limited to tennis. Rather,this embodiment is provided for illustration of the invention and not tolimit it to a particular sport. This invention may also be used forother sports, such as baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer,track and field, swimming or any other sport. In the context of teamsports, the player's ticket may be considered a “team's ticket.”However, for simplicity, the ticket associated with this invention willbe referred to herein as a “player's ticket.”

An organization that arranges a tournament, a ranking organization, orany other entity, may rank the players participating in the tournamentin order of skill or in any other desirable order. The organization thatarranges the tournament may be divided into different groups to managethe different aspects of the tournament. If desired, however, theorganization managing the tournament may be a single tournamentorganizing entity. For simplicity, this tournament organizing entitywill be referred to herein as the “tournament director,” regardless ofwhether it is a single tournament organizing entity or encompasses thevarious groups that manage the tournament. Decisions described hereinthat are made by the tournament director may be made by any of thevarious groups that manage the tournament.

Referring to FIG. 1, tournament bracket 100 is shown for a sample sportstournament. Many aspects of this invention will be described in thecontext of the sample tournament provided in FIG. 1. As illustrated inbracket 100 there are sixteen players in the tournament who are seededone through sixteen. Before the tournament begins, the player seededfirst may be considered the best player participating in the tournamentand the player seeded sixteenth may be considered the worst player inthe tournament. Each player in bracket 100 is marked as “Player x” where“x” is the player's seed. Although players will be referred to as singleplayers in the sample tournament, it is understood that this inventioncan apply equally to a doubles tennis tournament. Once the players areseeded, a draw of which players compete against each other may bedetermined. Although the draw may be determined in any desirable manner,in the described embodiment, the draw is determined in accordance withthe seeding of the players. This allows the greatest number of talentedor quality players to be in the tournament at any given time. Inaddition, determining the draw in accordance with the seeding assiststhe best player in emerging from the tournament as the winner. In thecontext of this invention, determining the draw in accordance with theseeding may provide a certain level of predictability for the outcome ofthe tournament. Knowing the outcome of matches in the tournament may aidin allocating event admissions or seats for player's tickets. Thus,techniques for determining the draw will be discussed.

One technique for achieving the objective of the best player emergingfrom the tournament as the winner is to establish the draw such that thegreatest number of players in the top half of the seeding advance ineach round. This may be achieved by having players seeded in the tophalf of the tournament play against players seeded in the bottom half ofthe tournament. Looking at FIG. 1, in first round 102, players that areseeded one through eight compete against players that are seeded ninethough sixteen. If all of the best players win (i.e., all of the topseeded players win), then second round 104 will comprise players seededone through eight. This would help accomplish the aforementionedobjective. In this way, the greatest number of talented or qualityplayers determined before the tournament began may proceed to the nextround of the tournament, thus creating a more competitive tournament.Although not illustrated in bracket 100, a certain level of randomnessor purposeful adjustment may also be incorporated when establishing thedraw such that some players seeded one through eight may play each otherand some players seeded nine through sixteen may play each other.

In order to determine which players seeded one through eight are pairedto compete against the players seeded nine through sixteen, theobjective may be to make the addition of the seeds of each competingpair of player's seeds as close to the same number as possible. Meaning,if Player 1 is playing Player 15, the addition of their seeds is sixteen(i.e., one plus fifteen). Ideally, the addition of the seeds for eachmatch in a round may equal the total number of players in the round plusone. Since there are sixteen players in first round 102, the idealnumber when adding the seeds may be seventeen. As illustrated in bracket100, first seeded player 110 (“Player 1”) competes against fifteenthseeded player 112 (“Player 15”) in first match 106. Twelfth seededplayer 114 (“Player 12”) competes against fifth seeded player 116(“Player 5”) in second match 108. The addition of the seeds in firstmatch 106 and second match 108 equals sixteen and seventeen,respectively. The addition of the seeds for the remaining matches offirst round 102 in bracket 100 equals between sixteen and twenty. Theadditions of the seeds are close to seventeen, the number that waspreviously described as ideal. How close the addition of the seeds maybe to the ideal number may be at the discretion of the tournamentdirector. The draw depicted in bracket 100 corresponds to the tournamentdirector choosing to have the addition of these seeds vary randomlyaround the ideal value of seventeen for this sample sports tournament.

This pairing, or matching, of players to compete against each other maybe repeated for the remaining rounds. This arrangement for later roundsmay best be understood if it is assumed that all of the best ortop-seeded players win. Meaning, in the sample tournament, playersseeded one through eight would remain in the tournament for second round104. The same principle described above may apply here, such that of theplayers remaining, those seeded in the top half of the tournament maycompete against players seeded in the bottom half of the tournament. Insecond round 104, player pairings may be arranged such that playersseeded one through four compete against players seeded five througheight. The ideal number for the addition of the seeds with eight playersremaining should be nine (i.e., total number of players remaining in thetournament plus one). As can be seen in bracket 100, if the top-seededplayers win first round 102 then fifth match winner 118 may be Player 6,sixth match winner 120 may be Player 3, seventh match winner 122 may bePlayer 7, and eighth match winner 124 may be Player 2. In this casethen, the addition of the seeds in eleventh match 126 and twelfth match128 both equal nine which may be the ideal number in the second round ofthe sample tournament. The sum of the seeds in the other second roundmatches in this case may vary randomly around nine as a consequence ofsetting the sum of the seeds for the first round matches to varyrandomly around seventeen.

This sample tournament described in FIG. 1 is not meant to limit thetype of tournament in connection with which the player's ticketingtechnique of the invention can be used. Rather, it is provided merelyfor illustrative purposes and for a context in which this invention maybe described. Where appropriate, alternate embodiments may be described.For example, the sample tournament comprising sixteen players does notlimit this invention to a tournament of only sixteen players. Rather,sixteen players are provided for illustrative purposes and thisinvention may be used in tournaments of any size. In addition, thetechnique described for arranging the draw is just one embodiment of howthe draw may be established in accordance with the seeding of theplayers. This invention is not limited to this particular technique andcan apply to any technique for which a tournament director chooses toestablish the draw. It is, however, desirable to determine the draw ofthe tournament in accordance with the seeding because many tournaments'draws are established in this manner. As will be described in greaterdetail below, determining the draw in this manner may provide a certainlevel of predictability of the outcome of the tournament. However,determining the draw using other techniques which do not rely on seedingmay also provide elements of predictability.

This player's ticketing technique may also be applied to other types oftournaments including, but not limited to, a round-robin tournament, anyother type of double elimination tournament, or another type oftournament. For example, tournaments may be playoffs for major teamsports, such as baseball, basketball, or ice hockey. In these team sportexamples, each round of the playoffs may include multiple games betweenteams in a best-of-x format, where “x” represents the maximum number ofgames that can be played in the round before a winner is determined. Thewinner of each round of a best-of-x tournament advances to the nextround in the playoffs. In these types of tournaments, the probabilitytables described below in connection with FIGS. 6-8 may incorporate theadditional feature that a single loss may not necessarily cause a playerto be eliminated from the tournament.

Some of the probabilities useful for issuing player's tickets areillustrated and discussed in connection with FIG. 2. FIG. 2 shows adepiction of bracket 100 in a table format. Table 200 includes roundcolumn 201 and match column 202 which show the same four rounds and thesame fifteen matches, respectively, illustrated in bracket 100. Sincetable 200 is a depiction of the rounds and matches in bracket 100, table200 has the same number of rows (four) in round column 201 as there arerounds in bracket 100. In addition, table 200 has the same number ofrows (fifteen) in match column 202 as there are matches in bracket 100.Table 200 includes additional information in Player A column 206, PlayerB column 208, Player A probability column 210, and Player B probabilitycolumn 212. Columns 206, 208, 210, and 212 have the number of rows(fifteen) as match column 202 because the information in columns 206,208, 210, and 212 describe the particulars of each match. Player Acolumn 206 and Player B column 208 may provide the two players competingin each match. For any given match in bracket 100, the two competingplayers may be arranged in blocks in a vertical position to each other.The player in the top vertical position in bracket 100 may be located inPlayer A column 206 and the player in the bottom vertical position maybe located in Player B column 208. Player A probability column 210 mayprovide the probability of the player winning the match that is listedin Player A column 206. Player B probability column 212 may provide theprobability of the player winning the match listed in Player B column208.

An examination of row 204, for example, illustrates the correlationbetween table 200 and bracket 100. Row 204 shows the equivalent match offirst match 106 described above. As can be seen, Player 1 is located intable cell 214 which is in Player A column 206. Player 1 in table cell214 of FIG. 2 is the equivalent of Player 1 (first seeded player 110) inFIG. 1. Similarly, Player 15 is located in table cell 216 in Player Bcolumn 208. Player 15 in table cell 216 of FIG. 2 is the equivalent ofPlayer 15 (fifteenth seeded player 112) in FIG. 1. Following the formatdescribed above, Player 1 is in Player A column 206 and Player 15 is inPlayer B column 208 because first seeded player 110 (Player 1) isvertically positioned above fifteenth seeded player 112 (Player 15) inbracket 100.

The format for the remaining rows in table 200, and therefore theremaining matches in bracket 100, may follow the same format as row 204.Row 218 provides an example of a match in the second round in which theplayers' identities may not be known. Row 218 illustrates eleventh match126 in second round 104 from bracket 100. As can be seen, fifth matchwinner 118 (winner of match 5) is located in table cell 220, which is inPlayer A column 206, and sixth match winner 120 (winner of match 6) islocated in table cell 222, which is in Player B column 208. Once again,this follows the aforementioned format where fifth match winner 118 isvertically positioned above sixth match winner 120 in bracket 100.

The data in Player A probability column 210 and Player B probabilitycolumn 212 may be determined by gathering information from previoustournaments and matches. The data gathered from previous tournaments andmatches may be considered “historical data.” For tournaments that havebeen played for many years with an established technique for determiningthe draw, the probability of a particular seed winning a particularmatch may be accurately estimated based on the historical performance ofthis seed. This type of historical probability data may be readilyavailable for major tournaments. If sufficient historical data for thecurrent tournament is unavailable, historical data from similartournaments may be used instead. The probability of players winning ineach particular match in future tournaments may be calculatedindependently of the identities of the players. The probabilities incolumns 210 and 212 may be expressed as a number between zero and oneinclusive, a percentage, a probability distribution, a function of othervalues, or in any desirable manner. In the examples provided in table200, the probabilities may be expressed as numbers between 0 and 1inclusive and as probability distributions. For example, as illustratedin table cell 226, it may be established that in the sample tournamentfrom FIG. 1, a player seeded fifteenth has a 5% chance of winning amatch in the first round when competing against a player seeded first.Because the probabilities of competing players in a match shoulddesirably total 100%, the corollary that Player 1 has a 95% chance ofwinning is illustrated in table cell 224. For purposes of discussionherein, the probability may at times be referred to as a percentage. Asseen in table cell 228, the probability of Player B winning in match 8may be expressed as a normal distribution. Since it may be desirable forthe probability to total 100% (or one), the corollary is that Player A'sprobability of winning match 8 may be expressed as one minus the samenormal distribution expression for Player B (illustrated in table cell230).

The probability distributions expressed in table 200 as normaldistributions may actually be pseudo-normal distributions. These may bepseudo-normal distributions in that, for the purposes of this invention,they may have the additional constraint of having values between zeroand one inclusive. The results from a typical normal distributionequation may include values outside of the zero to one range dependingon the chosen mean and standard deviation inputs. Therefore, apseudo-normal distribution may be provided such that if the typicalnormal distribution equation results in a value outside of the zero toone range, the value may be replaced with the mean of the normaldistribution.

The probabilities provided in table 200 may assume that the chances of aparticular player winning a match are independent of the player'sidentity. However, it may also be desirable to recalculate the estimatedprobabilities as the tournament progresses and players' identities inlater rounds of the tournament become known. The probabilities in thelater rounds may be based on certain assumptions about which playerswill win the earlier rounds. As the tournament progresses, additionalinformation becomes known, such as the current status or form of theremaining players, and may also be used to refine these estimatedprobabilities. Another approach may be to maintain the same probabilityestimates that were decided before the tournament began.

These approaches may be illustrated by looking at row 230, for example,which shows the probabilities for match 9 in the second round. In thisexample, as illustrated in column 210, the winner of match 1 may beconsidered to have an 80% chance of winning this match regardless ofwhich player wins match 1. Match 1 may be played between Player 1 andPlayer 15. Although Player 1 has a 95% chance of winning match 1, andmay in all likelihood advance to match 9, Player 15 does have a 5%chance of winning. The probability of the winner of match 1 having an80% chance of winning match 9 may be estimated before the tournamentbegins. This estimated probability may be largely based on Player 1's95% chance of playing in match 9. If Player 15 wins match 1, it mayreflect that Player 15 is at the same skill level as Player 1 and has an80% chance of winning match 9. However, it may also be desirable toestimate different probabilities for each match in the second roundafter the first round matches are completed and the players identitiesbecome known.

In addition to calculating the probabilities independently of players'identities based on historical data from previous tournaments,probabilities may also be estimated by other methods. These otherestimation methods may be used to complement or replace the method ofusing historical data to estimate the probabilities in columns 210 and212. Probabilities may be estimated based on attributes of the players.For example, probabilities may be estimated based on the current formand skill level of the players competing. In addition, other factorsthat may be relevant in estimating probabilities may be the following:the results of previous meetings between players, a player's ability ondifferent types of surfaces, a player's record playing as a currentrank, a player's record playing against a particular rank, a player'srecord with the current weather, a player's record depending on the timeof year, a player's record when playing in a particular tournament, orany other relevant factor.

FIG. 3 shows table 300 with the player's tickets allocation for eachround in the sample tournament. Columns 318, 326, 330, and 332 providethe number of player's tickets allocated in rounds 1, 2, 3, and 4,respectively. Different types of player's tickets may be available.“All-rounds” ticket type 302 may be a player's ticket for a particularplayer for all rounds of the tournament. For example, row 304illustrates an all-rounds player's ticket for Player 1. Because onehundred player's tickets have been sold for Player 1, one hundredtickets may be allocated in each round for Player 1 in columns 318, 326,330, and 332. This idea may be similarly applicable for the other rowsin table 300 for ticket type 302 such as rows 320, 322, and 328. Anotherexample is when a player is not allocated any player's tickets, asoccurs for Player 16 in row 334.

“Round-‘x’-onwards” ticket type 306 may be a player's ticket for aparticular player for round “x” onwards of the sample tournament, wherex>1. For example, row 308 illustrates a round-“x”-onwards ticket forPlayer 1 for round 3 onwards. Because fifty player's tickets have beensold for Player 1 for round 3 onwards, and because the sample tournamenthas four rounds, fifty tickets may be allocated for Player 1 for rounds3 and 4 in columns 330 and 332. In addition, because in this example theplayer's ticket is for round 3 onwards, there are no tickets allocatedin this example in rounds 1 and 2. This idea may be similarly applicablefor the other rows in table 300 for ticket type 306, such as row 324.

Multiple-players' ticket type 310 may be a players' ticket thatreferences multiple players. A ticket holder for this ticket type mayattend any match played in by any of the players referenced by theplayers, ticket. If a players' ticket references multiple players, andany two of the players the ticket references play a match against eachother, the ticket holder may be entitled to only one seat for thatmatch, meaning that a multiple-players' ticket may entitle themultiple-players' ticket holder to more than one seat. For example, themultiple-players' ticket may entitle the multiple-players' ticket holderto fewer seats than the number of players referenced on themultiple-players' ticket, seats equal to the number of playersreferenced on the multiple-players' ticket, or more seats than thenumber of players referenced on the multiple-players' ticket (notshown). As an example, row 312 illustrates a multiple-players' ticketfor all rounds for a ticket referencing Players 1 and 2. Because sixtysuch players' tickets have been sold for a ticket referencing Players 1and 2, sixty tickets may be allocated in each round for a ticketreferencing Players 1 and 2 in columns 318, 326, 330, and 332. This ideamay be similarly applicable for the other rows in table 300 for tickettype 310, such as row 316. In addition, the multiple-players' tickettype may be combined with the round-“x”-onwards ticket type. Row 314illustrates fifteen players' ticket referencing Players 4, 5, and 8allocated for round 2 onwards. As a result, there may be no ticketsallocated for a players' ticket referencing Players 4, 5, and 8 in round1 in column 318. There may be, however, fifteen tickets allocated for aplayers' ticket referencing Players 4, 5, and 8 in rounds 2, 3, and 4 incolumns 326, 330, and 332, respectively.

The multiple-players' ticket type may also apply to matches where morethan two players play in a match. For example, in a doubles tournamentmore than two players may play in a match. As another example, in asport such as track and field, more than two athletes may compete in asingle event. If a player's ticket references two or more athletescompeting in the same event, the ticket holder may be entitled to onlyone seat for that match.

Other types of player's tickets may be allocated that are not shown intable 300. The examples shown in table 300 are provided for illustrationof the invention only and player's tickets types are not limited tothose provided. For example, player's tickets may not necessarily be forconsecutive rounds. It may be desirable to an individual (i.e., a sportsfan) to purchase a ticket for a player in rounds 1 and 4. In addition,it may be desirable to a sports fan to purchase a ticket for a player ina particular round (e.g., Player 1 only in round 2). A multiple-players'ticket may also be issued for a particular round. For example, amultiple-players' ticket for Players 4 and 8 in round 2 would provideadmission to a round 2 match being played by Player 4 and/or Player 8.Consistent with the description above, with respect to multiple-players'tickets, if Player 4 and Player 8 play each other in a round 2 match,then only one seat may be provided to the ticket holder for this match.It may also be desirable to a sports fan to purchase a ticket for aplayer up to a particular round. For example, a player's ticket forPlayer 1 up to round 3 would entitle a player's ticket holder admissionfor matches in rounds 1, 2, and 3 if Player 1 is still in thetournament, but not for the final round match, tickets for which may besold separately. In these scenarios, the player's ticket holder maypurchase a ticket to attend less than all of the matches in which aplayer plays.

Other types of tickets not shown in table 300 may include ticketoptions. Ticket options may include player's ticket options (i.e., theoption to buy player's ticket(s)) and ordinary ticket options (i.e., theoption to buy ordinary ticket(s)) and may be valid for a particular setof matches. For simplicity, player's ticket options will generally bereferred to herein for the discussion of ticket options, but theprinciples for player's ticket options may apply equally to ordinaryticket options where appropriate. In some approaches, it may bebeneficial to have a separate table from table 300 that includes theallocations of player's ticket options.

Options for purchasing player's tickets may be available to sports fans.An option for a player's ticket may not entitle a player's ticket optionholder admission to (or a seat for) any matches. Rather, once purchased,a player's ticket option holder may receive the option of purchasingplayer's tickets for a match or matches on preferential terms ascompared to the general public. Various preferential arrangements may beprovided including an opportunity to purchase tickets prior to thegeneral public.

Player's ticket options may be available for all the different types ofplayer's tickets, including those examples described herein. Moreover,additional variations may be available for player's ticket options. Forexample, the player's ticket option holder may choose to exercise aplayer's ticket option or choose not to exercise the player's ticketoption for each of the matches for which the option may be valid. Insome embodiments, the decision of whether or not the option has beenexercised in previous rounds may have no bearing on whether or not theoption may be exercised in later rounds. In other embodiments, if anoption is not exercised in a previous round, the option holder may beprohibited from exercising the option in a later round. In anotherembodiment, the option may only be exercised a designated number oftimes during a tournament.

Once a player's ticket option is exercised, the player's ticket optionmay be reallocated and considered (or converted to) a player's ticket.This conversion may thus affect the allocation of seats for player'sticket holders in subsequent matches. As an example, ten sports fans maypurchase an all-rounds player's ticket option for Player 1. If five ofthose sports fans exercise this all-rounds player's ticket option inRound 1 (thus creating an all-round player's ticket for Player 1), thenthis may increase the number of tickets allocated in each round forPlayer 1 in columns 318, 326, 330, and 332 of row 304 from one hundredplayer's tickets to one hundred and five player's tickets. In someembodiments, all-rounds player's ticket option holders may be permittedto exercise the ticket option more than once in a tournament, thuspotentially creating a different allocation of tickets in each round.Additionally, new types of player's tickets for the tournament may becreated depending upon the rounds in which the ticket options areexercised. For example, a new row would not be created if two of thesports fans exercise their option for round 3 onwards because row 308includes this scenario. In this example, the number of player's ticketsin columns 330 and 332 would be increased from fifty to fifty-two.However, if three of the sports fans exercise their option for round 2onwards, then a new row may need to be created with player's ticketsallocations of three in columns 326, 330, and 332.

It will be appreciated that the descriptions herein regardingsimulations of player's tickets, mitigations strategies for player'stickets, allocations of seats for player's ticket holders, the use of aplayer's ticket beyond sales for seats in a stadium, and any otheraspect of player's tickets described herein may apply equally toplayer's ticket options. Specific variations and enhancements ofplayer's ticket options are described herein where appropriate.

The tournament director, or any other entity that sells or providestickets, may supply a player's ticket or player's ticket option as partof a raffle or any other type of contest. For example, in oneembodiment, sports fans may purchase raffle tickets where the winner orwinners of the raffle are entitled to a player's ticket. The player'sticket(s) provided to a winner of a raffle may be any type of player'sticket (e.g., a multiple-players' ticket, an all-rounds player's ticket,etc.) as chosen by the entity organizing the raffle. In accordance withstandard raffle ticket pricing, the pricing of the raffle ticket for theplayer's ticket may be substantially less than the price for theplayer's ticket itself. In other embodiments, the player's ticket may beprovided as an award from a contest, such that the player's ticketholder does not have to pay any price for the player's ticket. Forexample, at a sports event, a sports fan in attendance may be chosen atrandom based on his seat location and be awarded a player's ticket.

As described above, if a players' ticket references two players thatplay against each other, it may entitle the ticket holder to only oneseat. In this scenario, the tournament director may offer othercompensation as opposed to multiple seats. For example, the tournamentdirector may offer free or discounted food and beverages, free ordiscounted credit for novelty games, free or discounted vouchers tooutside vendors, passes to restricted areas, free apparel, or any otherfree or discounted item or entry access. The compensation may varydepending on criteria set by the tournament director. For example, allelse being equal, a multiple-players' ticket referencing two playersplaying each other in the final round of a tournament may receive bettercompensation than a multiple-players' ticket referencing two playersplaying each other in an earlier round. In another case, all else beingequal, the player's ticket holder for a multiple players' ticket thatreferences only two players, both of whom play each other in the finalround, may receive enhanced compensation.

How many player's tickets may be allocated and how the player's ticketsmay be priced will be discussed in more detail below in connection withFIG. 9.

As discussed above in connection with FIG. 2, an established techniquefor determining a tournament draw may provide a certain level ofpredictability in determining which players will win each match in eachround. Using historical data, probabilities for which player will wineach match may be ascertained and defined before a tournament begins.Computer simulations of the tournament may then be run to determine thevarious outcomes of each match in each round. From this, the differentnumber of tickets necessary for each match at various levels ofconfidence may be discovered. These results can guide the tournamentdirector in determining how many seats to make available for each matchfor player's tickets holders. Essentially, executing numerous computersimulations of a tournament may be used to determine the number ofplayer's tickets required at various levels of confidence for eachmatch.

Simulations of the entire tournament may be run in accordance with thefollowing description, in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5, of a singlesimulation example of the sample tournament. The simulation exampleprovided in FIGS. 4 and 5 illustrates how many tickets may be requiredfor each match and which player may win each match. Which player may wineach match will determine which players will play in subsequent roundsand thus how many tickets may be required in the matches in thoserounds.

As a reminder, one of the types of player's tickets available may be themultiple-players' ticket type which references multiple players. Becausea multiple-players' ticket referencing two players playing in the samematch may entitle the multiple-players' ticket holder to only one seat,the following technique for calculating the number of player's ticketsrequired for a match ensures that a multiple-players' ticket is notcounted twice. For a match between Player A and Player B, the number ofplayer's tickets required for the match may be calculated by addingtogether the number of tickets which reference Player A but not PlayerB, the number of tickets which reference Player B but not Player A andthe number of tickets which reference Player A and Player B.

Looking at FIG. 4, table 400 shows a simulation for the first round ofthe sample tournament. Match column 402, players column 404 andprobability column 406 may contain the same information found for thefirst round matches in table 200 of FIG. 2. The pseudo-normaldistributions for match 2 and match 8 in FIG. 2 have been replaced withrandomly selected values from these distributions in probability column406 for illustrative purposes. Number of player's tickets for eachplayer column 408 contains the number of player's tickets required foreach player for that particular match. Total player's tickets column 410may contain the total number of player's tickets required for thatparticular match. Score column 414 contains the score for each playerwhich may be used to determine the winner of the match. How the scoremay be calculated will be discussed below. Winner column 416 may containthe winner of the match between the players found in column 404.

Row 412 may be an example of a match row. For each match row, playercolumn 404 may contain two player numbers. The player listed on top inthe match row of player column 404 may be Player A and the player listedon the bottom in the match row of player column 404 may be Player B.Number of player's tickets for each player column 408 may be determinedfor Player A by adding the number of tickets which reference Player Abut not Player B to half of the number of tickets which referencePlayers A and B. Number of player's tickets for each player column 408may be determined for Player B by adding the number of tickets whichreference Player B but not Player A to half of the number of ticketswhich reference Players A and B. Adding one half of the number oftickets which reference Players A and B to each of Players A and B'sticket total ensures that a multiple-players' ticket is not countedtwice.

Looking at row 412 the number of tickets required for Player A, who inmatch 1 of round 1 is Player 1, is 190. The number of tickets requiredfor Player B, who in match 1 of round 1 is Player 15, is five. Thesenumbers may be obtained by looking at table 300 of FIG. 3. In table 300,the number of tickets that reference Player A (Player 1), but not PlayerB (Player 15) may be found in rows 304, 308, 312, and 316. Adding thenumbers found in player's ticket allocation for first round column 318of rows 304, 308, 312, and 316 results in 190 player's tickets (i.e.,100+0+60+30=190). The number of tickets that reference Player 15, butnot Player 1 is five and may be found in row 320 of column 318. Notethat in this case, no player's ticket references both Player 1 andPlayer 15. Total player's tickets column 410 may be the addition of thenumber of player's tickets required for each player for that particularmatch. Looking back to row 412, the addition of Player 1's player'stickets and Player 15's player's tickets' is 195, and is found in column410.

In order to determine who is the winner of each simulated match, each ofPlayer A and Player B may receive a score. The score for Player A may bedetermined by multiplying the probability of Player A winning the matchby a random number greater than or equal to zero and less than or equalto one. The score for Player B may be determined in a similar manner. Anew random number should be generated for multiplication by each ofPlayer A's and Player B's probabilities.

Once the players' scores are determined, the scores may be compared.Whichever player's score is higher may be declared the winner of thematch. If the players' scores are equal then a tie-breaking proceduremay be used. For example, in the case of a tie, it may be decided byconvention that Player A always wins, Player B always wins, the winneris determined by who has the higher seed, or by any other tie-breakingdetermination. Looking back to row 412, winner column 416 shows that inmatch 1, Player 1 is the winner because in score column 414 the scoreassociated with Player 1 (0.827) is greater than the score associatedwith Player 15 (0.028). A similar winner determination may be performedfor each match in the first round. The winners of each match in thefirst round may advance to the second round.

In FIG. 5, tables 500, 512, and 518 show simulations for the secondround, third round, and fourth round, respectively, of the sampletournament. In table 500, match column 502 may show matches 9, 10, 11,and 12 which appear in match rows 520, 522, 524, and 526, respectively.To determine which players compete in matches 9, 10, 11, and 12,attention is drawn to FIG. 2. Table 200 of FIG. 2 shows that the winnerof match 1 plays the winner of match 2 in match 9, the winner of match 3plays the winner of match 4 in match 10, the winner of match 5 plays thewinner of match 6 in match 11, and the winner of match 7 plays thewinner of match 8 in match 12. The winners of each of these matches maybe found in winner column 416 of table 400 in FIG. 4.

Similar to FIG. 4, in FIG. 5, the player listed on top in the match rowof players column 504 may be Player A and the player listed on thebottom in the match row of players column 504 may be Player B. In thissample simulation, row 520 indicates that in the second round, Player 1(winner of match 1) will be Player A and will play Player 5 (winner ofmatch 2) who will be Player B. Row 522 indicates that Player 4 (winnerof match 3) will be Player A and will play Player 8 (winner of match 4)who will be Player B. Row 524 indicates that Player 10 (winner of match5) will be Player A and will play Player 3 (winner of match 6) who willbe Player B. Row 526 indicates that Player 7 (winner of match 7) will bePlayer A and will play Player 2 (winner of match 8) who will be PlayerB.

Probability column 506 in table 500 may contain the probabilities forthe second round matches from table 200 of FIG. 2. The pseudo-normaldistributions for match 12 in FIG. 2 have been replaced with randomlyselected values from these distributions in probability column 506 forillustrative purposes. Number of player's tickets for each player column508 and total player's tickets column 510 may be similar to columns 408and 410 of FIG. 4 and may be calculated in a similar manner. Looking atrow 522, for example, the number of tickets required for Player A, whoin match 10 of round 2 is Player 4, may be 77.5. The number of ticketsrequired for Player B, who in match 10 of round 2 is Player 8, may be67.5. These numbers for required player's tickets may be derived bylooking at table 300 of FIG. 3. In table 300, the number of tickets thatreference Player A (Player 4), but not Player B (Player 8) may be foundin rows 322 and 324. Adding the numbers found in player's ticketallocation for second round column 326 of rows 322 and 324 results inseventy player's tickets (i.e., 70+0=70). The number of tickets thatreference Player 8, but not Player 4, is sixty and may be found in row328 of column 326.

Note that in this case, a multiple-players' ticket type referencesPlayers 4 and 8. In row 314, fifteen multiple-players' ticketsreferencing Players 4, 5, and 8 may be allocated for round 2 in column326. Therefore, half of these multiple-players' tickets may be allocatedto Player 4 and half of these multiple-players' tickets may be allocatedto Player 8. Splitting the tickets for each player illustrates theembodiment in which a multiple-players' ticket referencing two playersplaying each other in a match entitles the players' ticket holder toonly one admission or seat. In a sense, this converts amultiple-players' ticket to a player's ticket for the purpose ofcalculating each player's total number of tickets. In this case, becausean odd number (i.e., fifteen) of multiple-players' tickets referencingtwo players playing each other were sold, one half of a ticket is shownto be allocated for each player. In actuality, one half of a ticketcannot be issued. This half of a ticket is merely to show the allocationof each player's total number of tickets for a match and the two halvesof a ticket are accounted for when considering the total number ofplayer's tickets for the match. Thus, 7.5 tickets may be allocated toeach of Player 4 and Player 8. Therefore, the total number of ticketsallocated for Player 4 is 77.5 (i.e., 70+7.5=77.5) and the total numberof tickets allocated for Player 8 is 67.5 (i.e., 60+7.5=67.5).

Total player's tickets column 510 may be the addition of the number ofplayer's tickets required for each player for that particular match. Asillustrated in row 522 of column 510, the addition of Player 1'splayer's tickets and Player 15's player's tickets is 145 (i.e.,77.5+67.5=145), and is found in column 510.

Similar calculations regarding player's tickets may then be computed forthe remaining matches in the second round. In addition, similardeterminations regarding the player's scores and which player is thewinner of each match in the second round may then be made, as describedin connection with the scores and winners in FIG. 4. The winners of eachmatch in the second round may advance to the third round. Tables 512 and518 show simulations for the third round and fourth round, respectively,of the sample tournament. The simulations shown in tables 512 and 518may be performed similarly to that of table 500.

The description associated with FIGS. 4 and 5 describe one simulation ofan entire sample tournament. FIGS. 6-8 illustrate 3,000 iterations ofsimulations of the entire sample tournament and the data associated withthose iterations. The tie-breaking procedure adopted for thesesimulations where the players' scores may have been equal was to declarePlayer A the winner of those matches. Running 3,000 iterationssimulating the sample tournament has been done for illustration of theinvention only and is not meant to limit the invention. The tournamentmay be run for any desired number of iterations, but should preferablybe run for enough iterations for the results to be statisticallysignificant. All else being equal, a larger number of iterations of thesample tournament will result in a smaller margin of error in the outputstatistical results. This margin of error may be expressed bycalculating a confidence interval (e.g., a 95% confidence interval) foreach output result using standard statistical techniques (not shown).Besides the number of iterations, this margin of error may also beaffected by the accuracy of the methods used to simulate the tournament.

Table 600 of FIG. 6 shows how many player's tickets are required in thematches for the first round. Regardless of the number of iterations ofthe sample tournament run, these numbers are known because the playersin the first round matches are known.

Table 602 of FIG. 6 shows the different options of seats that may berequired for player's ticket holders in second round matches. Unlike thefirst round where the player pairings may be known prior to the start ofthe tournament, the player pairings may not be known in the later roundsuntil the matches which determine these player pairings have beenplayed. Therefore, in order to determine how many tickets to allocate inmatches where the players are unknown, the possible player pairings mustbe considered. As an example, looking back to FIG. 2, row 230 indicatesthat in match 9, Player A may be the winner of match 1 and Player B maybe the winner of match 2. The winner of match 1 may either be Player 1or Player 15 and the winner of match 2 may be either Player 12 or Player5. Therefore, match 9 may have four possible pairings of players: (1)Player 15 vs. Player 12; (2) Player 15 vs. Player 5; (3) Player 1 vs.Player 12; and (4) Player 1 vs. Player 5. The number of tickets requiredfor each of the four different pairings may be calculated in accordancewith the technique described above in connection with FIGS. 4 and 5.

An examination of row 604 of table 602 will illustrate compiledsimulation data for match 9 in the second round. The below discussionand examples associated with match 9 are provided merely forillustration purposes. This description is not provided to limit theinvention, but rather expound upon the manner in which player's ticketsmay be allocated. In addition, the principles discussed in connectionwith match 9 may be applied equally to the other matches in the secondround and the other rounds in the tournament.

As indicated in row 604 of table 602, there may be four differentoptions of player's tickets required for match 9. These four differentoptions may correspond to the four possible pairings. Although fourdifferent options of player's tickets may be required in the examplesprovided in row 604 of table 602, there may be fewer than four differentoptions for a match (not shown). For example, if two of the pairingsrequire the same number of tickets then there may only be threedifferent options for the number of player's tickets required. Sub-row606 may correspond with pairing #1 from above (i.e., Player 15 vs.Player 12), sub-row 608 may correspond with pairing #2, sub-row 610 maycorrespond with pairing #3, and sub-row 612 may correspond with pairing#4. Columns 614, 616, and 618 show the details of the 3,000 iterationsof the sample tournament specific to the different matches in column620. Column 614 may show the four different options of the number ofseats required for player's tickets holders for a particular match.Column 616 may show the number of times each of the four possiblepairings occur in 3,000 iterations of the sample tournament.

For example, sub-row 606 indicates in column 614 that one option may bethat 25 seats are required for player's tickets holders in match 9(i.e., twenty-five seats are required for player's ticket holders whenPlayer 15 plays Player 12). For sub-row 606, column 616 indicates thatPlayer 15 played Player 12 in 11 of the 3,000 iterations of the sampletournament run. Sub-row 608 indicates that 120 seats are required forplayer's tickets in match 9 when Player 15 plays Player 5. Column 616indicates that 120 seats are required 63 times in the 3,000 iterationsof the sample tournament run. Sub-row 610 indicates that 210 seats arerequired in match 9 when Player 1 plays Player 12. Column 616 indicatesthat 210 seats are required 490 times in the 3,000 iterations of thesample tournament run. Sub-row 612 indicates that 305 seats are requiredin match 9 when Player 1 plays Player 5. Column 616 indicates that 305seats are required 2,436 times in the 3,000 iterations of the sampletournament run.

Column 618 may show the percentage of times that allocating “n” numberseats will accommodate all player's ticket holders for a particularmatch. The percentages shown in column 618 may be considered probabilitydistributions of the number of seats required to accommodate allplayer's ticket holders for a particular match. In match 9 in the secondround, the value for “n” may be one of the four possible ticket optionslisted in column 614 in sub-rows 606, 608, 610, or 612. For example, 25tickets may be allocated for match 9. Allocating player's tickets maymean that “n” seats are set aside for player's ticket holders for thatmatch. The location of the “n” number of seats is discussed in moredetail below. In addition, the use of the term “seats” is not meant tolimit the allocation to “seats.” Certain venues may be standing-roomonly, for example. Therefore, allocation of seats may refer to any typeof allocation of event admissions or entry passes.

Looking back at the example in row 606 of column 616, only 11 times outof 3,000 iterations of the sample tournament will 25 seats accommodateall player's ticket holders. That is, only about 0.4% of the time (i.e.,11 out of 3,000) will all player's tickets for match 9 be accommodatedthrough the allocation of 25 seats for player's ticket holders. Thisvalue is listed in sub-row 606 of column 618. All player's tickets formatch 9 may be accommodated when Player 15 plays Player 12 (i.e.,pairing #1 from above) if 25 seats are allocated. If any of the otherthree possible pairings occur, all ticket holders of player's ticketsthat are valid for match 9 may not be accommodated. In fact, only 25player's ticket holders out of 120, 210 or 305 player's ticket holderswill be accommodated, depending upon which players are playing in match9.

If, on the other hand, 120 seats are allocated for player's ticketholders for match 9, then this will accommodate all player's ticketholders 74 times out of 3,000 iterations of the sample tournament. Asindicated in column 616 of sub-row 608, Player 15 plays Player 5 (i.e.,pairing #2) 63 times out 3,000 iterations. As noted above, when Player15 plays Player 5, 120 seats are necessary for match 9. In addition, if120 seats are allocated for player's ticket holders for match 9, andPlayer 15 plays Player 12 (i.e., pairing #1), all player's ticketholders for this possibility will also be satisfied. Since there areonly 25 player's tickets that refer to Player 15 and/or Player 12 formatch 9, there may in actuality be an excess of 95 seats. Therefore,from column 616 both the 11 iterations and the 63 iterations fromsub-rows 606 and 608, respectively, may be used in calculating thepercentage for sub-row 608 of column 618. That is, this value should beabout 2.5% (i.e., (11+63=74) out of 3,000).

This same logic may apply for the remaining seat requirement options incolumn 614. For example, as illustrated in sub-row 610, if 210 seats areallocated for player's ticket holders for match 9 of the tournament,this may accommodate all player's ticket holders about 18.8% of thetime. That is because 210 seats are required when Player 1 plays Player12 (i.e., pairing #3). If 210 seats are allocated and the playerspairing is pairing #1 or pairing #2, both of which require fewer than210 tickets, then player's ticket holders with these pairings may stillbe accommodated. Since Player 1 plays Player 12 490 times out of 3,000iterations in column 616 of sub-row 610, the value for column 618 ofsub-row 610 is 18.8% (i.e., (11+63+490=564) out of 3,000).

Finally, if Player 1 plays Player 5 (i.e., pairing #4) in match 9, then305 player's tickets may be required to accommodate all player's ticketsthat reference Player 1 and/or Player 5 for match 9. In this situation,if 305 seats are allocated, column 618 of sub-row 612 indicates that allplayer's ticket holders may be accommodated 100% of the time. Because305 seats may be available for player's tickets referencing match 9, ifpairings #1, #2, or #3 occur, all of which require fewer seats than the305 seats required in pairing #4, then all player's ticket holders maybe accommodated.

As seen in the last example, more seats may be allocated than may berequired resulting in excess seats being available. In this scenario theunused seats allocated for player's tickets may be made available to thegeneral public as ordinary tickets (e.g., general admission, reservedtickets, unreserved tickets, etc.). Alternatively, these seats may bemade available as part of a player's ticket option. These mitigationtechniques will be discussed in more detail below.

Table 700 of FIG. 7 shows the different options of seats that may berequired for player's ticket holders for the matches in the third round.Columns 704, 706, and 708 may provide the same type of information of3,000 iterations of the sample tournament for round 3 as columns 614,616, and 618 provided for round 2. As shown, there may be more options(i.e., sub-rows in table 700) for the number of seats required forplayer's ticket holders in the third round than in the second round. Asthe rounds progress there may be more options because there are agreater number of combinations of pairs of players that may be playingin these later round matches.

Table 800 of FIG. 8 shows the different options of seats that may berequired for player's ticket holders in match 15 in the fourth round. Inthe sample tournament, the fourth round may be the last round of thetournament and, therefore, may only include one match (i.e., match 15).As can be seen in sub-rows 802, 804, 806, and 808, looking at columns810 and 812, respectively, allocating 310 seats may satisfy all player'sticket holders about 54.8% of the time, allocating 330 seats may satisfyall player's ticket holders about 75.1% of the time, allocating 340seats may satisfy all player's ticket holders about 76.6% of the time,and allocating 395 seats may satisfy all player's ticket holders 100% ofthe time.

The decision of how many seats to allocate for player's ticket holdersmay be made by computer logic within the ticketing application orplayer's ticketing application. As will be described in more detailbelow, the ticketing application and player's ticketing application maybe located in legacy server 1210 and player's ticketing server 1214 (asillustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13). These applications may request variousinputs from the tournament director in order to determine how many seatsto allocate for a match. The inputs may allow these ticketingapplications to determine which level of confidence with which toallocate seats (i.e., choose the percentage of times that all player'sticket holders will be accommodated correlating to the tournamentdirector's preferences set forth by the inputs).

For the sake of simplicity, processes performed by the ticketingapplication and the player's ticketing application will be referred toas being performed by the ticketing application, but can be performed byeither application as desired. Details regarding these applications willbe discussed below in connection with FIG. 13. Many of thedeterminations made by the ticketing application are dependent upon theinputs of the tournament director. These inputs may explicitly statevarious conditions under which the ticketing application should allocatea certain number of seats for player's ticket holders with certainlevels of risk of not accommodating all player's ticket holders orcertain levels of risk of having an excess of seats for player's ticketholders. Alternatively, these inputs may provide guidance to theticketing application as to the tournament director's willingness torisk not accommodating all player's ticket holders or having an excessof seats for player's ticket holders. Based on these explicitly statedconditions or guidance from the tournament director, the ticketingapplication may determine how many seats to allocate for player's ticketholders. Determining how many seats may be allocated, and mitigationtechniques for use when too many or too few seats are allocated, will bediscussed in further detail below.

In the example from FIG. 8, the ticketing application may allocate 330seats as opposed to 310 seats for player's ticket holders because thiswould significantly increase the likelihood that all player's ticketholders will be satisfied from about 54.8% of the time to about 75.1% ofthe time. The ticketing application may determine that this isbeneficial, because only a small increase in seats allocated produces alarge increase in the likelihood of accommodating all player's ticketholders. The ticketing application may determine that increasing theplayer's ticket holders allocation to 340 seats may not be beneficialbecause it only increases the likelihood that all player's ticketholders will be satisfied by about an additional 1.5% of the time toabout 76.6% of the time. The ticketing application may determine thatthis is not beneficial because it is a small increase in seat allocationproducing only a small increase in the likelihood of accommodating allplayer's ticket holders. The ticketing application may determine that itis more beneficial to allocate those seats for ordinary ticket sales.The ticketing application may also determine that increasing the ticketallocation to 395 seats to ensure that 100% of all player's ticketholders are accommodated may not be beneficial based on inputs of thetournament director. The tournament director may decide it may be worthrisking not accommodating all player's ticket holders and may providemeasures of accommodating ticket holders if there are too many player'stickets for seats allocated. However, for other reasons, the ticketingapplication may determine that it is necessary to ensure that 100% ofall player's ticket holders are accommodated.

The allocation of seats for player's tickets for each match in eachround, as described above, may be computed before the tournamentcommences. This seat allocation may persist throughout the tournament.Alternatively, as the tournament progresses and the identities of thewinners of various matches become known, the probability distributionsof the number of seats required for player's ticket holders for eachmatch may be estimated with greater precision. Similarly, as thetournament progresses and the identities of the winners of variousmatches become known, the probability distributions of the number ofseats required for player's ticket option holders for each match may beestimated with greater precision. Moreover, various player's ticketoptions may be converted to player's tickets which thus affects theprobability distributions. The ticketing application may account forthis when determining seat allocations as the tournament progresses.

The estimations may become more precise because, as the tournamentprogresses, certain players will be eliminated and certain player'stickets options may no longer be capable of being exercised. Thepossible seat allocation options may then decrease because with fewerplayers remaining in the tournament, fewer possible pairings of playersexist. Fewer possible seat allocation options for a match remain becausethe seat allocations for eliminated players may not be considered indetermining the percentage of times that all player's ticket holders areaccommodated. The probability distributions of required seats may alsobe more precise if estimated as the tournament progresses because theidentities of the players in the later rounds may be known. Having theidentities of the players may allow the probabilities to be recalculatedmore precisely. Recalculations of these probabilities may be based onany historical data, as discussed above in connection with FIG. 2.

In addition, new data or information may become available as thetournament progresses which may affect the probability of a playerwinning. Some examples may be an injury to a player, change in weatherconditions which may favor a particular player, how a player matches upagainst an unexpected opponent, or any other new data which may affectthis probability. Because these recalculations may affect theprobabilities of a player winning in the simulations of the tournament,it may ultimately impact the percentages of times all player's ticketholders may be accommodated. As the tournament progresses, this mayimpact how many seats the ticketing application sets aside for player'sticket holders. The refinement of these estimations may be performedafter each round completes, after each match completes, or at anydesired stage of a tournament.

The type, price, and quantity of player's tickets the tournamentdirector offers for sale may depend upon information the ticketingapplication can obtain based on an analysis of the marginal revenuecurve, marginal cost curve, and demand curve for each type of player'sticket, as well as the profitability of each type of player's ticket.Economic theory suggests that the goal of the tournament director willbe to maximize profits. The Equimarginal Principle in Economics statesthat if a venture is possibly profitable, the profits from pursuing thatventure will be maximized at the point where the venture's marginal costequals the venture's marginal benefit.

FIG. 9 shows graphs 900 of the demand curve 902, marginal cost curve904, marginal revenue curve 906, total cost curve 908, and total revenuecurve 910 for a given type of player's ticket. If it is profitable toissue this type of player's ticket, then the number of such ticketsissued should desirably be Q* 912 because it is at quantity Q* 912 thatmarginal revenue equals marginal cost (i.e., at point of intersection914 where marginal revenue curve 906 intersects marginal cost curve904). If a single price is to be charged for this type of player'sticket, then the price at which these tickets should desirably be issuedis price P* 916 because P* 916 is the price corresponding to quantity Q*912 on demand curve 902 for this type of player's ticket. Because TotalProfits=Total Revenue−Total Cost, the maximum profits possible fromissuing this type of player's ticket at a single price are thedifference between TR* 918 and TC* 920, where TR* 918 and TC* 920 are,respectively, the total revenue and total cost corresponding to theissuance of Q* 912 player's tickets at price P* 916 as illustrated inFIG. 9. In practice, various simulations may be run or various formulasmay be used by the ticketing application to calculate best estimates ofdemand curve 902, marginal cost curve 904, marginal revenue curve 906,total cost curve 908, and total revenue curve 910 depicted in FIG. 9.

This economic analysis may be performed by the ticketing application forall types of player's tickets and the results of this analysis should beused to determine the quantity and price of each type of player's ticketto be issued. The number of player's tickets of various types to beissued may then be established and listed as in FIG. 3. This analysismay also be used to estimate the profit to be made from issuing player'stickets. It may be that some types of player's tickets are neverprofitable to issue. This may occur, for example, due to the high fixedcosts of issuing some types of player's tickets. Regardless of whetherthe marginal cost and marginal revenue for a particular type of player'sticket are ever equal, due to the high fixed costs of issuing thisparticular type of player's ticket, it may never be profitable and thisparticular type of player's ticket should not desirably be issued. Anexample of this situation may occur for the all-rounds player's ticketfor Player 16 since no such player's tickets referencing Player 16 arelisted in FIG. 3. Another example of high fixed costs possibly beingprohibitive in issuing player's tickets may occur if a tournamentdirector decides to offer new types of player's tickets. In thissituation, there may be high fixed costs associated with upgrading theticketing application to enable providing new types of player's tickets.The refinement of this economic analysis for both profitable andunprofitable player's tickets may be performed by the ticketingapplication after each round completes, after each match completes, orat any desired stage of a tournament.

One consequence of the Equimarginal Principle discussed above is that ifa player's ticket remains profitable to issue, then desirably onlychanges in marginal cost and/or marginal revenue would change thequantity issued of a particular type of player's ticket. Further, whileit has been assumed thus far that a given type of player's ticket isoffered for sale at a single price, there may be cases where tournamentdirectors may increase their profits by practicing price discrimination.Price discrimination occurs when different prices are charged for thesame item (e.g., by charging higher prices for player's tickets sold onthe day of the tournament, by charging lower prices for a senior citizenor a student, by providing volume discounts to customers who buy a largenumber of tickets, etc.). If price discrimination is practiced, then agiven type of player's ticket might effectively be sold at variousprices rather than a single price. If price discrimination is practiced,then the number of player's tickets sold may exceed Q*.

An important component of the marginal costs associated with a giventype of player's ticket may be the opportunity cost associated withforgone profits from the ordinary tickets that each additional player'sticket is expected to replace. Typically, each tournament venue willhave a limited capacity and, to maximize profits, it may be desirable tohave the ordinary tickets and the player's tickets for a match fill allavailable seats for that match. Accordingly, each player's ticket issuedwill replace one ordinary ticket in every match in which the player'sticket is used. The greater the expected number of matches that aplayer's ticket is used for, the greater the expected number of ordinarytickets that will be replaced in this manner. Therefore, the issuance ofa player's ticket will cause the tournament director to forgo earningthe profits that would have been earned if one or more ordinary ticketshad been issued instead of this player's ticket. These forgone earningsmay be part of the marginal cost of issuing each additional player'sticket, and will thus affect the price P and quantity Q*.

Marginal revenue curve 906 may lie below demand curve 902 as shown inFIG. 9 and may be influenced by the same factors that influence demandcurve 902. Accordingly, any factor which increases demand may increasemarginal revenue and any factor which decreases demand may decreasemarginal revenue. Some factors which may influence demand curve 902 andmarginal revenue curve 906 are discussed below.

An increase in the popularity of a player may, all else being equal(e.g., the same ticket type at the same price), increase the demand forplayer's tickets for that player. The popularity of a player may berelated to the quality or talent of that player, how well-known tosports fans that player may be, if a player is hyped, if that player isnew and up-and-coming, or any other popularity criteria. For example, ifnew information concerning a particular player's romantic involvementwith a prominent actor is made public, this may lead to that playerbecoming more well known. This may lead to an increase in the popularityof that player which may in turn lead to an increase in demand forplayer's tickets for that player. A popularity index may be determinedfor each player to aid in quantifying the demand for player's ticketsfor each player.

The demand for a player's ticket may depend upon the type of player'sticket. As described above, two types of player's tickets may be theall-rounds ticket type and round “x” onwards ticket type, where x>1. Allelse being equal, if the only difference between two player's tickets isthe number of rounds they are valid for, then player's tickets valid formore rounds may be in greater demand than player's tickets valid forfewer rounds. For example, assuming the player's tickets are priced thesame, an all-rounds (i.e., valid for rounds 1-4) player's ticket forPlayer 1 may be in greater demand than a player's ticket for Player 1that is valid for rounds 3 and 4 only.

Similarly, the demand for a player's ticket may be influenced by thenumber of matches a player is expected to play in. More specifically, ifall else is equal (e.g., same ticket type, which thus has the samenumber of potential matches, at the same price, for players of equalpopularity), a player's ticket for a player expected to play in morematches may be in greater demand than a player's ticket for a playerexpected to play in fewer matches. For example, consider player'stickets sold for Player C and Player D. In this example the player'sticket is sold at the same price and is valid for all four rounds of thesample tournament described above. In addition, for this example assumePlayers C and D are equally popular and the only significant variationbetween these two player's tickets is that Player C is expected to playin more matches than Player D in this tournament. Based on historicaldata, Player C may be expected to play in 3.5 matches and Player D maybe expected to play in 2.3 matches. Because Player C is expected to playin more matches than Player D, the demand for the player's ticket forPlayer C may be greater than the demand for the player's ticket forPlayer D.

Taking this a step further, the expected number of matches that twoplayers may play in may be equal or sufficiently close that it may seemequal to a sports fan. However, looking at historical data, these twoplayers may have arrived at this expected number of matches differently.One player may, for example, consistently win in the first two rounds ofthe tournament, but only in rare instances advance past the third round.Another player may be more sporadic in performance. At times, the playermay lose in the first or second round, but at other times may reach thethird or fourth round. Despite their different winning tendencies, theirexpected number of matches may be equal. This difference in winningtendencies may be quantified by the standard deviation of the number ofmatches in which these two players may play. In the above example, thestandard deviation will be lower for the more consistent player.

As an example, consider that the expected number of matches that PlayerC and Player D play in may be equal (e.g., 2.5 matches) for the sampletournament discussed above. The standard deviation of the number ofmatches that are played in may be less for Player C (e.g., standarddeviation=0.2) than Player D (e.g., standard deviation=1.5). Player C'slower standard deviation may be like the consistent player describedabove, whereas Player D's higher standard deviation may be like the moresporadic player described above. All else being equal (e.g., same tickettype, which thus has the same number of potential matches, at the sameprice, for players of equal popularity, for players expected to win thesame number of matches, etc.), the demand for player's tickets forPlayer C may be greater than the demand for player's tickets for PlayerD based on Player C's lower standard deviation. In other words, all elsebeing equal, there may be greater demand for player's tickets for themore consistent player.

The expected number of matches may be determined differently in sometypes of tournaments where certain players may get a “bye” (i.e.,automatic advancement to the next round of the tournament). In oneembodiment, the expected number may be the expected round that a playeradvances to rather than the number of matches played in. This embodimentconsiders that a sports fan may attach greater importance to seeinglater round matches. In another embodiment, the expected number mayinclude the round that is the bye round, but may count that match asless than one match when determining the expected number of matches.

If the only difference between two multiple-players' tickets is that oneof the tickets may potentially provide access to more matches, then themultiple-players' ticket potentially providing this greater access maybe in greater demand. For example, all else being equal (e.g., ticketsare sold at the same price, tickets reference the same number of rounds,etc.), a multiple-players' ticket referencing Players C, D and E may bein greater demand than a multiple-players' ticket referencing Players Cand D as long as the multiple-players' ticket referencing Players C, Dand E may potentially provide access to additional matches.

The above description of some of the economic considerations involved inissuing player's tickets is not meant to be an exhaustive discussion ofsuch considerations. Rather, it is provided for illustration of theinvention. Depending on the situation, the ticketing application mayanalyze its economic choices differently from the discussion above. Thismay result in, for example, different pricing strategies from thosediscussed above. As another example, in some cases, the ticketingapplication may choose to impose a cap on the number of tickets that canbe sold for each type of player's ticket. The imposition of such a capmay affect the economic considerations associated with issuing player'stickets and so may result in changes in the quantity of player's ticketsissued and prices of various player's tickets.

Depending upon how many seats are allocated for player's tickets holdersfor each match, there may be a shortfall or an excess of seats requiredfor player's tickets holders for a particular match. The number of seatsallocated for each match may be determined by the ticketing applicationbased on the probability distributions of accommodating all player'sticket holders as described in connection with FIGS. 6-8. Assume thenumber of seats for a match allocated for player's ticket holders is “x”and the number of seats required for player's ticket holders is “y.” Ifx=y, then there may be no shortfall or excess and all player's ticketholders are accommodated. If y<x, then there may be an excess in thenumber of seats for player's tickets and extra seats available in thevenue for that match. This scenario may be mitigated by selling ticketsfor up to x−y seats for that match.

These excess tickets may be sold as soon as it is known that there areexcess seats available for that match. The sale of unused seats (i.e.,x−y seats) may be made available as ordinary tickets or may be“repackaged” as part of a new player's ticket or a new ticket optionconvertible into player's tickets or ordinary tickets. The new player'sticket option may be available if the unused seat is in a match that isnot in the last round of a tournament. The number of player's tickets tobe issued may be decided through the economic analysis discussed above.

If x<y, then there may be a shortfall in y−x number of seats forplayer's tickets in the venue for that match. This scenario may bemitigated by using unsold seats allocated for ordinary ticket holders toseat player's ticket holders. Compensation may also be provided toordinary ticket holders or player's ticket holders in exchange for theordinary ticket holders' or player's ticket holders' seats. In addition,compensation may also be provided to player's ticket option holders inexchange for the seats that player's ticket option holders may beentitled to. Compensation may be provided by buying back the ordinaryticket holders' or player's ticket holders' seats. In this scenario thetickets or options may be bought back at their original selling price,the tickets or options may be bought back at a higher price, the ticketsor options may be bought back at their original selling price with othercompensation, the tickets or options may be exchanged for vouchers topurchase tickets for another tournament for a value greater than theticket price or option price, or any other way of buying the tickets oroptions back may be used. The other compensation provided with therefund for the ordinary tickets may be the option to buy better seatsfor another match or any other credit the tournament director may offer.

Another mitigation option available may be to provide player's ticketswhich guarantee a seat for all matches they are potentially valid for,player's tickets which guarantee a seat for some but not all of thematches they are potentially valid for, and player's tickets which donot guarantee a seat for any match they are potentially valid for.Similar mitigation options involving variations of guaranteeing seatsmay also be available for player's ticket options. The principles thatfollow for player's tickets may apply equally for player's ticketoptions. The player's tickets for each of these options may be pricedaccordingly. All else being equal (e.g., including the playersreferenced by the player's tickets and the number of matches theplayer's tickets are potentially valid for), player's tickets whichguarantee a seat for more matches may be priced higher than player'stickets which guarantee a seat for fewer matches. If desired, player'sticket holders with non-guaranteed seats that are unable to view a matchmay be compensated through cash payments, credit for tickets for anothermatch, credit for merchandise, or any other compensation technique.Compensation for player's ticket option holders that do not guarantee aseat may occur in, for example, at least two different scenarios. In afirst scenario, the player's ticket option holder may be unable to viewa match despite exercising the option. In a second scenario, ifinsufficient seats are available for a match, the player's ticket optionholder may not be allowed to exercise the option.

With the mitigation options based on different variations ofguaranteeing seats, it may be beneficial to provide for three differentallotments, or classes, of seats for player's tickets in accordance withthe seat allocation results set forth in FIGS. 6-8. Similarly, it may bebeneficial to provide for three different allotments, or classes, ofseats for player's ticket options in accordance with the seat allocationresults set forth in FIGS. 6-8. The principles that follow for player'stickets may apply equally for player's ticket options. In this scenario,it may be beneficial to run separate computer simulations of atournament for each allotment. For the cases when a player's ticket mayguarantee a seat, seats may be allocated in which 100% of the time allplayer's ticket holders may be accommodated. If there is then an excessin the number of seats, the mitigation strategies described above may beemployed. In the cases when a player's ticket may not guarantee a seat,the ticketing application may determine, in accordance with theprinciples described herein above, to allocate seats in which less than100% of the time all player's ticket holders may be accommodated.

Other class-based ticket allotments may also be established inaccordance with the principles of the present invention. Classes ofseats may be established based on the quality of the seats. The qualityof the seats may be based on location (e.g., courtside seats may beconsidered better than seats in the tier level), services provided atthe seats (e.g., luxury box seats), or any other seat qualitydetermination. All else being equal, the price for seats that may beconsidered higher quality may be higher than for seats that may beconsidered lower quality. Similar to the guaranteed-seat,partially-guaranteed seat, and non-guaranteed seat player's ticket classallotments, it may be beneficial to run separate computer simulations ofthe tournament for each of the classes of tickets and ticket options. Itmay be desirable to have other classes of tickets not discussed herein.The principle of running separate simulations for each class of ticketsmay apply equally to those classifications of tickets.

In addition, different classes of tickets may be combined to form hybridclasses of tickets. For example, it may be desirable to have a class oftickets that are guaranteed and courtside. Because these tickets may bemore desirable than seats that are non-guaranteed and in the tier level,the guaranteed, courtside tickets may be priced higher.

Another factor to consider in allocating seats for player's ticketholders may be events external to the tournament. Events external to thetournament may be that a match may occur at the same time as a concert,other sporting event, or other large event, the weather forecast may benegative, there may be construction on the roads near the match, or anyother external event that may limit or enhance why player's ticketholders may attend a match. In the situation where the external eventmay limit why player's ticket holders may attend a match, the ticketingapplication may “dampen” the probability distributions calculated for aparticular match.

FIG. 10 shows the dampening effect on match 12 in the second round as anillustration of how to dampen the seat allocations for the probabilitydistributions. Columns 1004 and 1006 provide the same information foundin columns 616 and 618 of table 602 in FIG. 6 for match 12. Theinformation provided in column 1002, differs in that the number oftickets allocated in column 1002 may be 25% less than the number oftickets allocated in column 614. Column 614 may represent the number oftickets allocated for match 12 without the dampening effect. In thisexample, the number of tickets allocated for each possibility may bedampened, or reduced, based on bad weather. The dampening percentagechosen may reflect the dampening effect based on historical data as towhat is the typical reduction in attendance at the tournament based onsimilar external events. Dampening may also be done for certain matchesin the absence of a common external event that affects a large number ofplayer's ticket holders. This may occur if, for example, it is expectedthat a certain percentage of player's ticket holders will not attend amatch even though they have a player's ticket referencing that match.

The ticketing application may utilize the dampening technique in orderto determine the allocation of seats based on the potential exercise ofplayer's ticket options. A separate class of seats may be allocated foreach match for player's ticket option holders. (In some embodiments, aseparate class of seats may also be allocated for each match of ordinaryticket option holders.) The dampening percentage chosen for player'sticket options may be based on how many of the player's ticket optionholders may choose to exercise their option. In some embodiments,historical data may be used in order to determine the dampeningpercentage. As an example, if generally 75% of all player's ticketoption holders exercise the option, then the dampening effect may be 25%less than the number of seats that would typically be allocated for thatplayer's ticket option if it were a player's ticket. Therefore, if onehundred seats would normally be allocated for a player's ticket forPlayer 1 in round 1, than 75 seats may be allocated for a player'sticket option for Player 1 in round 1.

The benefits of predicting which players may be playing in particularmatches may be applied beyond sales for seats in a stadium and sales foroptions to buy seats in a stadium. For example, the “player's ticket”and the “player's ticket option” may apply equally to units of airtimefor television advertisers, radio advertisers, satellite radioadvertisers, or any other type of advertisement medium. A company, whichmay endorse a particular athlete or player, may want to buy airtime forcommercials when that athlete is playing in a match. This may provide acompany with the opportunity to buy airtime to advertise the company'sproduct endorsed by the athlete only when that athlete is playing in amatch that is broadcast on television, over-the-air radio, satelliteradio, or any other medium.

Another application of “player's ticket” and “player's ticket options”may be to link the number of nights guest(s) may stay in hotel room(s)(or other lodging accommodations) to whether one or more players(potentially referenced on a player's ticket or player's ticket option)still have remaining matches to play in a sports tournament. In anotherapplication, entities which provide travel tickets (such as airlines,railways, car rental firms, bus services, travel agents, ticketconsolidators, etc.) may provide travel tickets or travel arrangementslinked to the success of one or more players (potentially referenced ona player's ticket or player's ticket option) in a sports tournament. Forexample, the number of days for which a sports fan may rent a car from acar rental firm may be linked to the number of days that the one or moreplayers (potentially referenced on a player's ticket or player's ticketoption) may play in a tournament. In this example, the number of days inthe car rental period may be linked to the number of days that thepotential player's ticket or player's ticket option may be valid for inthe relevant sports tournament. In another example, a round-tripairline, rail or bus ticket from the sports fan's home city to the cityof the sports tournament may be linked to the first day (or a day nearthe first day) and the last day (or a day near the last day) that one ormore players (potentially referenced on a player's ticket or player'sticket option) play in a sports tournament. It follows, as an extremeexample, that if the number of days in the period for which the sportsfan has purchased travel services linked to a potential player's ticketor player's ticket option is zero—because the player has been eliminatedfrom or not qualified for the tournament—then the sports fan may notreceive any car rental days or travel tickets.

Although the invention has been described as it applies to tennis, thisinvention may be applied to any desirable sport and any desirabletournament playoff or scheduled matches or game. For example, in a sportsuch as baseball, a sports fan may purchase a team's ticket (i.e., whatcorresponds to a player's ticket for a team) for the playoff games. Theteam's ticket may be purchased before the season begins or during theseason. For the playoffs, it may be unknown if a team may be involved inthe playoffs and, if so, when and where the team may play their games ineach round. The price of tickets may fluctuate based on the differenttimes in the season tickets are purchased and for what round of theplayoffs tickets are purchased. The validity of player's tickets (orplayer's ticket options) may also be made dependent on variouscombinations of players, matches, venues, time or time ranges asdesired.

One embodiment of a player's ticketing process that may be used inaccordance with the principles of the present invention is illustratedin process 1100 of FIG. 11. In practice, one or more steps shown may becombined with other steps, performed in any suitable order, performed inparallel—e.g., simultaneously or substantially simultaneously—ordeleted. In addition, the principles of process 1100 may apply equallyto player's ticket options. At step 1102, the player ranking andtournament draw may be acquired. The ranking and draw of the tournamentmay be performed in accordance with the techniques described inconnection with FIG. 1. At step 1104, the probabilities of each playerwinning in each round may be acquired or determined. The probabilitiesmay be determined in accordance with historical data as described inconnection with FIG. 2. In addition, the probabilities may berecalculated as the tournament progresses as discussed in connectionwith FIGS. 2 and 8. Ticket allocations for each player's ticket sold ineach round may be determined at step 1106. Player's ticket allocationsin each round may be determined in accordance with the techniquesdescribed in connection with FIGS. 3 and 9.

At step 1108, multiple simulations of the tournament may be run inaccordance with the simulation described in connection with FIGS. 4 and5. After multiple simulations have been run, the simulation data may becompiled at step 1110. The simulation data may be compiled in accordancewith the techniques described in connection with FIGS. 6-8. Once thesimulation data is compiled, the probability distributions foraccommodating all player's ticket holders may be determined at step1112. Seats may then be allocated for player's ticket holders inaccordance with the techniques described in connection with FIGS. 6-8and 10. Finally, mitigation options may be utilized, in accordance withthe description provided above, if there is a shortfall or excess ofseats, at step 1116.

One or more of steps 1108-1114 may be deleted and replaced with one ormore steps of another technique to determine how seats may be allocatedfor player's ticket holders. Other techniques may be used other thanrunning simulations to determine the probability with which each numberof seats option may be required for each match in the tournament. Forexample, rather than running simulations, various formulas may be usedto determine these values. The seat allocations for player's ticketholders may also be determined by various formulas.

A further embodiment of this invention may involve performing steps1106-1114 in parallel—e.g., simultaneously or substantiallysimultaneously—in order to maximize expected profit for the entiretournament. This parallel performance of steps 1106-1114 may be done,for example, iteratively through a feedback loop. In this way, theresults of step 1114 feedback to step 1106 and the entire procedure upto step 1114 is repeated until expected profit for the entire tournamentis maximized. A system of equations solved in parallel may also be usedto effectively perform steps 1106-1114. The impact of various mitigationoptions to be utilized in step 1116 may also be taken into account whileattempting to maximize expected profit for the entire tournament in thisembodiment. This may lead to those mitigation options, that areconsistent with maximizing expected profit for the entire tournament,being utilized in step 1116.

A ticketing application may be provided to provide sports fans withplayer's tickets. It will be understood that the ticketing applicationmay be any suitable, software, hardware, or both configured to implementthe features of the present invention. The ticketing application may belocated at a central location (e.g., a central server). In anothersuitable approach, the ticketing application may reside among differentlocations (e.g., a network).

In one particular embodiment, the ticketing application may includeclient-side software, hardware, or both. For example, the ticketingapplication may encompass one or more Web-pages or Web-page portions(e.g., via any suitable encoding, such as XML, ColdFusion, etc.).

Although the client-side ticketing application is described herein asbeing implemented on a workstation, this is only illustrative. Theticketing application may be implemented on any suitable platform (e.g.,personal computer, palmtop computer, laptop computer, personal digitalassistant, cellular phone, ticketing kiosk, etc.) to provide suchfeatures.

Referring to FIG. 12, an exemplary system 1200 for implementing thepresent invention is shown. As illustrated, system 1200 may include oneor more ticketing workstations 1202. Workstations 1202 may be local orremote, and are connected by one or more communications links 1204 to anetwork 1206 that is linked via communications link 1208 to legacyserver 1210 and communications link 1212 to player's ticketing server1214. Servers 1210 and 1214 are connected by communications link 1216 toeach other.

In system 1200, servers 1210 and 1214 may be any suitable server,processor, computer, or data processing device, or combination of thesame. Computer network 1206 may be any suitable computer networkincluding the Internet, an intranet, a wide-area network (WAN), alocal-area network (LAN), a wireless network, a digital subscriber line(DSL) network, a frame relay network, an asynchronous transfer mode(ATM) network, a virtual private network (VPN), or any combination ofany of the same. Communications links 1204, 1208, 1212, and 1216 may beany communications link suitable for communicating data betweenworkstations 1202, legacy server 1210, and player's ticketing server1214, such as network links, dial-up links, wireless links, hard-wiredlinks, etc. Workstations 1202 enable a sports fan to purchase tickets.Workstations 1202 may be personal computers, laptop computers, mainframecomputers, dumb terminals, data displays, Internet browsers, personaldigital assistants (PDAs), two-way pagers, wireless terminals, portabletelephones, ticketing kiosks, wireless phones, etc., or any combinationof the same.

The servers and one of the workstations depicted in FIG. 12 areillustrated in more detail in FIG. 13. Referring to FIG. 13, workstation1202 may include processor 1302, display 1304, input device 1306,printer 1307, and memory 1308, which may be interconnected. In apreferred embodiment, memory 1308 contains storage device 1309 forstoring a workstation program for controlling processor 1302. Memory1308 also preferably contains ticketing application 1310 according tothe invention.

Processor 1302 uses the workstation program to present on display 1304the ticketing application relating to ticketing received through thecommunications link 1204. Furthermore, input device 1306 may be used tomanually enter commands and numbers in order for these commands andnumbers to be communicated to the ticketing application. Printer 1307may be any hardware that prints information provided from workstation1202 onto paper. Printer 1307 may be used to print tickets (i.e.,player's tickets, ordinary tickets, or any other type of ticket) for thesports fan (i.e., ticket holder).

Legacy server 1210 may include processor 1320, display 1322, inputdevice 1324, and memory 1326, which may be interconnected. In apreferred embodiment, memory 1326 contains storage device 1328 forstoring information relating to ticketing received throughcommunications link 1208 or through other links. Storage device 1328further contains a server program for controlling processor 1320. Memoryalso preferably contains ticketing application 1330 according to theinvention. Processor 1320 uses the server program and ticketingapplication 1330 to transact the sale and issuance of tickets and toperform the above-mentioned systems and methods.

Player's ticketing server 1214 may include processor 1332, display 1334,input device 1336, memory 1338, historical-data database 1340, andadmissions accommodation database 1342, which may be interconnected.Historical-data database 1340 may contain data gathered from previoustournaments and matches. As described above, this historical data mayprovide statistical data to aid in determining the possible winners of atournament. The historical data may be gathered from any desirablesource, such as, but not limited to, the Internet, an internallypopulated database, an externally populated database, and/or any otherdesirable source. In a preferred embodiment, memory 1338 containsstorage device 1344 for storing a server program for controllingprocessor 1332. Memory 1338 also preferably contains player's ticketingapplication 1346 according to the invention. Processor 1332 may use theserver program and player's ticketing application 1346 to determine thepossible winners of the tournament by computer simulations or usingvarious formulas as described above. Processor 1332 may also use theserver program and player's ticketing application 1346 to determine thetype and number of various player's tickets to be issued and the numberof seats that may be allocated for each match to accommodate allplayer's ticket holders. The results of these determinations may beloaded into admissions accommodation database 1342. If computersimulations are used to make some or all of these determinations, thenthe results of the computer simulations may also be loaded intoadmissions accommodation database 1342 to facilitate ad-hoc querying ofthe simulation results as deemed necessary.

In the preferred embodiment, as illustrated in FIGS. 12 and 13, legacyserver 1210 and player's ticketing server 1214 are provided as separateservers. Legacy server 1210 may provide the ticketing applicationwithout the player's ticketing capabilities, but may be customizable toinclude the player's ticketing capabilities. In one approach, legacyserver 1210 may be designed such that it is scalable and can easily becustomized to include additional applications, such as the player'sticketing application. In another approach, legacy server 1210 may bedesigned such that it may require major modifications to include theplayer's ticketing application. Legacy server 1210 may be customized toinclude the player's ticketing application by connecting it to player'sticketing server 1214 (which has player's ticketing application 1346)through communications link 1216. Legacy server 1210 may also becustomized to include the player's ticketing application byincorporating the required features of player's ticketing server 1214into legacy server 1210. In addition, player's ticketing server 1214 maybe designed as a stand-alone ticketing system in that it includes allthe required ticketing features of legacy server 1210.

FIG. 14 presents a cross-section of a magnetic data storage medium 1400which can be encoded with a machine executable program that can becarried out by equipment such as workstation 1202, legacy server 1210,and/or player's ticketing server 1214 of FIGS. 12 and 13 to implementmethods discussed in connection with FIGS. 1-13. Medium 1400 may be astorage device of workstation 1202, legacy server 1210, and/or player'sticketing server 1214 of FIGS. 12 and 13. Medium 1400 can be a floppydiskette or hard disk, having a suitable substrate 1401, which may beconventional, and a suitable coating 1402, which may be conventional, onone or both sides, containing magnetic domains (not visible) whosepolarity or orientation can be altered magnetically. Medium 1400 mayalso have an opening (not shown) for receiving the spindle of a diskdrive or other data device used to access the data stored on medium1400.

The magnetic domains of coating 1402 of medium 1400 are polarized ororiented so as to encode, in manner which may be conventional, amachine-executable program such as those described above in connectionwith FIGS. 1-13, for execution by equipment such as workstation 1202,legacy server 1210, and/or player's ticketing server 1214 of FIGS. 12and 13.

FIG. 15 shows a cross-section of an optically-readable data storagemedium 1500 which also can be encoded with such a machine-executableprogram, which can be carried out by equipment such as workstation 1202,legacy server 1210, and/or player's ticketing server 1214 of FIGS. 12and 13. Medium 1500 can be a conventional compact disk read only memory(CD-ROM) or digital video disk read only memory (DVD-ROM) or arewritable medium such as a CD-R or CD-RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW or DVD-RAM or amagneto-optical disk which is optically readable and magneto-opticallyrewritable. Medium 1500 preferably has a suitable substrate 1501, whichmay be conventional, and a suitable coating 1502, which may beconventional, usually on one or both sides of substrate 1501.

In the case of a CD-based or DVD-based medium, as is well-known, coating1502 is reflective and is impressed with a plurality of pits 1503,arranged on one or more layers, to encode the machine-executableprogram. The arrangement of pits is read by reflecting laser light offthe surface of coating 1502. A protective coating 1504, which preferablyis substantially transparent, is provided on top of coating 1502.

In the case of a magneto-optical disk, as is well-known, coating 1502has no pits 1503, but has a plurality of magnetic domains whose polarityor orientation can be changed magnetically when heated above a certaintemperature, as by a laser (not shown). The orientation of the domainscan be read by measuring the polarization of laser light reflected fromcoating 1502. The arrangement of the domains encodes the program asdescribed above.

Thus, systems and methods for providing a player's ticket based on theprobabilities of players winning their matches and the number and typeof player's tickets sold for each player for each match have beendescribed. Persons skilled in the art will appreciate that the presentinvention can be practiced by other than the described embodiments,which are presented for purposes of illustration and not of limitation,and that the present invention is limited only by the claims whichfollow.

1. A method for providing player's ticket options and determining matchadmissions for player's ticket options using a player's ticketingserver, wherein the server consists of a processor and memory, on whicha player's ticket application is at least partially implemented, themethod comprising: providing, via the player's ticketing server,player's ticket options that: (a) reference at least one player, (b)allow player's ticket option holders to exercise the player's ticketoptions, and (c) allow the player's ticket option holders admission to amatch in which the at least one player is playing after exercising theplayer's ticket option; acquiring, using the player's ticketing server,information about a tournament, including information selected from thegroup consisting of players, a tournament draw, and historical data;determining, using the player's ticketing server, for at least one matchof the tournament probabilities of players winning based on thetournament information; determining, using the player's ticketingserver, at least one possible allocation of match admissions forplayer's ticket options for the at least one match based on the player'sticket options provided and the tournament draw; and allocating, usingthe player's ticketing server, match admissions for player's ticketoptions for the at least one match based on the at least one possibleallocation of match admissions, on the probabilities of players winningthe at least one match, and on the probability of player's ticket optionholders exercising the player's ticket options.
 2. The method of claim1, wherein: of the player's ticket options, at least one player's ticketoption is a multiple-players' ticket option which references at leasttwo players; of the at least two players referenced on themultiple-players' ticket option, at least one player is playing in amatch; and the multiple-players' ticket option provides the at least oneplayer's ticket option holder with the option to purchase at least onematch admission to the match.
 3. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: providing, using the player's ticketing server, player'sticket options that guarantee match admissions when the player's ticketoption is exercised for the at least one match, and player's ticketoptions that do not guarantee match admissions for the at least onematch when the player's ticket option is exercised; determining, usingthe player's ticketing server, at least one possible allocation of matchadmissions for player's ticket options that do not guarantee matchadmissions based on probabilities of players winning the at least onematch; determining, using the player's ticketing server, an allocationof match admissions for player's ticket options that guarantee matchadmissions that will accommodate all player's ticket option holdersbased on the probabilities of players winning the at least one match;allocating, using the player's ticketing server, match admissions forplayer's ticket options that do not guarantee match admissions for theat least one match based on the at least one possible allocation ofmatch admissions for player's ticket options that do not guarantee matchadmissions; and allocating, using the player's ticketing server, matchadmissions for player's ticket options that guarantee match admissionsfor the at least one match based on the allocation of match admissionsfor player's ticket options that guarantee match admissions that willaccommodate all player's ticket option holders.
 4. The method of claim1, wherein allocating match admissions based on the probability ofplayer's ticket option holders exercising the player's ticket optionfurther comprises reducing the at least one possible allocation of matchadmissions for player's ticket options for the at least one match basedon a determination that less than all of the player's ticket optionholders will exercise the player's ticket option for the at least onematch.
 5. A method for providing ancillary tickets and determiningbenefits for ancillary tickets, using a player's ticketing server,wherein the server consists of a processor and memory, on which aplayer's ticket application is at least partially implemented, themethod comprising: providing, using the player's ticketing server,ancillary tickets that: (a) reference at least one player participatingin a match, and (b) allow ancillary ticket holders at least one benefitassociated with the match in which the at least one player is playing,wherein the at least one benefit is at least one of advertisementairtime and travel arrangements; acquiring, using the player's ticketingserver, information about a tournament, including information selectedfrom the group consisting of players, a tournament draw, and historicaldata; determining, using the player's ticketing server, for at least onematch of the tournament probabilities of players winning based on thetournament information; and determining, using the player's ticketingserver, at least one possible allocation of the at least one benefit forancillary tickets for the at least one match based on the ancillarytickets provided and the tournament draw; and allocating, using theplayer's ticketing server, benefits for ancillary tickets for the atleast one match based on the at least one possible allocation of atleast one benefit and on the probabilities of players winning the atleast one match.
 6. A system for providing player's ticket options anddetermining match admissions for player's ticket options, comprising: aserver at which a ticketing application has been implemented, the servercomprising a processor configured to: provide player's ticket optionsthat: (a) reference at least one player, (b) allow player's ticketoption holders to exercise the player's ticket options, and (c) allowthe player's ticket option holders admission to a match in which the atleast one player is playing after exercising the player's ticket option;acquire information about a tournament, including information selectedfrom the group consisting of players, a tournament draw, and historicaldata; determine for at least one match of the tournament probabilitiesof players winning based on the tournament information; determine atleast one possible allocation of match admissions for player's ticketoptions for the at least one match based on the player's ticket optionsprovided and the tournament draw; and allocate match admissions forplayer's ticket options for the at least one match based on the at leastone possible allocation of match admissions, on the probabilities ofplayers winning the at least one match, and on the probability ofplayer's ticket option holders exercising the player's ticket options.7. The system of claim 6, wherein: of the player's ticket options, atleast one player's ticket option is a multiple-players' ticket optionwhich references at least two players; of the at least two playersreferenced on the multiple-players' ticket option, at least one playeris playing in a match; and the multiple-players' ticket option providesthe at least one player's ticket option holder with the option topurchase at least one match admission to the match.
 8. The system ofclaim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to: provideplayer's ticket options that guarantee match admissions when theplayer's ticket option is exercised for the at least one match andplayer's ticket options that do not guarantee match admissions for theat least one match when the player's ticket option is exercised;determine at least one possible allocation of match admissions forplayer's ticket options that do not guarantee match admissions based onprobabilities of players winning the at least one match; determine anallocation of match admissions for player's ticket options thatguarantee match admissions that will accommodate all player's ticketoption holders based on the probabilities of players winning the atleast one match; allocate match admissions for player's ticket optionsthat do not guarantee match admissions for the at least one match basedon the at least one possible allocation of match admissions for player'sticket options that do not guarantee match admissions; and allocatematch admissions for player's ticket options that guarantee matchadmissions for the at least one match based on the allocation of matchadmissions for player's ticket options that guarantee match admissionsthat will accommodate all player's ticket option holders.
 9. The systemof claim 6, wherein the processor is further configured to reduce the atleast one possible allocation of match admissions for player's ticketoptions for the at least one match based on a determination that lessthan all of the player's ticket option holders will exercise theplayer's ticket option for the at least one match.
 10. A system forproviding player's ticket options and determining match admissions forplayer's ticket options, comprising: a server at which a ticketingapplication has been implemented, the server comprising a processorconfigured to: provide ancillary tickets that: (a) reference at leastone player participating in a match, and (b) allow ancillary ticketholders at least one benefit associated with the match in which the atleast one player is playing, wherein the at least one benefit is atleast one of advertisement airtime and travel arrangements; acquireinformation about a tournament, including information selected from thegroup consisting of players, a tournament draw, and historical data;determine for at least one match of the tournament probabilities ofplayers winning based on the tournament information; and determine atleast one possible allocation of the at least one benefit for ancillarytickets for the at least one match based on the ancillary ticketsprovided and the tournament draw; and allocate benefits for ancillarytickets for the at least one match based on the at least one possibleallocation of at least one benefit and on the probabilities of playerswinning the at least one match.
 11. A machine-readable storage mediumencoded with a set of machine executable instructions for using a serverto perform a method for providing player's ticket options anddetermining match admissions for player's ticket options: providingplayer's ticket options that: (a) reference at least one player, (b)allow player's ticket option holders to exercise the player's ticketoptions, and (c) allow the player's ticket option holders admission to amatch in which the at least one player is playing after exercising theplayer's ticket option; acquiring information about a tournament,including information selected from the group consisting of players, atournament draw, and historical data; determining for at least one matchof the tournament probabilities of players winning based on thetournament information; determining at least one possible allocation ofmatch admissions for player's ticket options for the at least one matchbased on the player's ticket options provided and the tournament draw;and allocating match admissions for player's ticket options for the atleast one match based on the at least one possible allocation of matchadmissions, on the probabilities of players winning the at least onematch, and on the probability of player's ticket option holdersexercising the player's ticket options.
 12. The machine-readable storagemedium of claim 11, wherein: of the player's ticket options, at leastone player's ticket option is a multiple-players' ticket option whichreferences at least two players; of the at least two players referencedon the multiple-players' ticket option, at least one player is playingin a match; and the multiple-players' ticket option provides the atleast one player's ticket option holder with the option to purchase atleast one match admission to the match.
 13. The machine-readable storagemedium of claim 11, wherein the method further comprises: providingplayer's ticket options that guarantee match admissions when theplayer's ticket option is exercised for the at least one match andplayer's ticket options that do not guarantee match admissions for theat least one match when the player's ticket option is exercised;determining at least one possible allocation of match admissions forplayer's ticket options that do not guarantee match admissions based onprobabilities of players winning the at least one match; determining anallocation of match admissions for player's ticket options thatguarantee match admissions that will accommodate all player's ticketoption holders based on the probabilities of players winning the atleast one match; allocating event admissions for player's ticket optionsthat do not guarantee match admissions for the at least one match basedon the at least one possible allocation of match admissions for player'sticket options that do not guarantee match admissions; and allocatingmatch admissions for player's ticket options that guarantee matchadmissions for the at least one match based on the allocation of matchadmissions for player's ticket options that guarantee match admissionsthat will accommodate all player's ticket option holders.
 14. Themachine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein allocating matchadmissions based on the probability of player's ticket option holdersexercising the player's ticket option further comprises reducing the atleast one possible allocation of match admissions for player's ticketoptions for the at least one match based on a determination that lessthan all of the player's ticket option holders will exercise theplayer's ticket option for the at least one match.
 15. Amachine-readable storage medium encoded with a set of machine executableinstructions for using a server to perform a method for providingplayer's ticket options and determining match admissions for player'sticket options: providing ancillary tickets that: (a) reference at leastone player participating in an match, and (b) allow ancillary ticketholders at least one benefit associated with the match in which the atleast one player is playing, wherein the at least one benefit is atleast one of advertisement airtime and travel arrangements; acquiringinformation about a tournament, including information selected from thegroup consisting of players, a tournament draw, and historical data;determining for at least one match of the tournament probabilities ofplayers winning based on the tournament information; and determining atleast one possible allocation of the at least one benefit for ancillarytickets for the at least one match based on the ancillary ticketsprovided and the tournament draw; and allocating benefits for ancillarytickets for the at least one match based on the at least one possibleallocation of at least one benefit and on the probabilities of playerswinning the at least one match.